Enabling factors of carbon accounting disclosure quality: Designing an analytical framework

Titolo Rivista MANAGEMENT CONTROL
Autori/Curatori Alessandro Marelli, Danilo Boffa, Antonio Prencipe
Anno di pubblicazione 2026 Fascicolo 2026/2
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 24 P. 119-142 Dimensione file 142 KB
DOI 10.3280/MACO2026-002006
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This study theoretically proposes an analytical framework to study the determinants of Carbon Disclosure (CD) quality, aiming at bridging the perspectives of different theoretical approaches trying to deductively explain causes of firms’ disclosure efforts and the quality of disclosure itself. The paper constructs a theoretical model to compare the reporting strategies of B-Corps (BCs) versus traditional companies (non-BCs). By integrating Legitimacy, Image, and Signaling Theories, the study hypothesizes that while non-BCs could tend towards disclosure driven by symbolic compliance or impression management (implying greenwashing risks), BCs might leverage CD as a substantive signal of their dual purpose. The paper’s original contribution lies in identifying a theoretically informed conceptual framework to study the enabling factors of CD in different organizations, which leverage different legitimacy stakeholders’ expectations and respond with different effort and costly signals to them.

Parole chiave:B-Corps, Management Control Systems, Legitimacy Theory, Impression Management Theory, Signaling Theory, Greenwashing

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Alessandro Marelli, Danilo Boffa, Antonio Prencipe, Enabling factors of carbon accounting disclosure quality: Designing an analytical framework in "MANAGEMENT CONTROL" 2/2026, pp 119-142, DOI: 10.3280/MACO2026-002006